naa029Cerny Associates papers
Archives staffUniversity of Minnesota
Libraries1980sUniversity of Minnesota LibrariesMinneapolis, MN 55455EAD encoding by Leslie Czechowski and Kelly Dugan,
February 2005EnglishCerny Associates, Inc.Cerny Associates papers
1886-1978University of
Minnesota Libraries. Northwest Architectural Archives, Manuscripts
Division [naa]80 cubic feetThe collection includes
extensive working drawings, microfilm, photographs, job files, and
specifications. It includes examples of the work of all the successive
partnerships from 1886 to 1978, and a collection of specifications from
Thorshov and Cerny and from Cerny Associates for later work. N 29EnglishMezzanine and High Bay
Administrative Information
Restrictions on Access

Available for use in the Manuscripts Division reading room. Advance
notice is requested.

Restrictions on Use

There are no restrictions on the use of materials in this collection.
Copies can be requested if the condition of the originals warrants it.

The history of Cerny Associates began in the 1870s when Franklin Long
established his practice. Long was born in Afton, New York on March 3, 1842. He
left there in 1859 and lived and worked as a carpenter and builder in Chicago
and Woodstock, IL, and as a draftsman for J.C. Cochrane, architect. In Chicago
(1867) he became a partner of Ackerman (first name unknown) for a time, then
moved to Minneapolis about 1868 for health reasons. He was in private practice
until 1874 when he briefly associated with Robert Alden, one of the area's
pioneer architects. Long then joined Charles F. Haglin in partnership in 1875.
After the firm dissolved in 1876, Haglin went on to become one of the city's
leading contractors.

Long worked for the Milwaukee Railroad from 1877 to 1881 and returned
to private architectural practice in 1881 to 1884. He was a partner of
Frederick Kees from 1884 to 1897, one of the most successful firms in
Minneapolis. Together they designed and built many of the largest buildings in
the city in the 1880s and 1890s, including the Public Library (1884), Masonic
Temple (1888), Lumber Exchange (1888-90), Flour Exchange (1893-97), Kasota
Block (1884), and many warehouses, churches, and private residences. After Kees
left the partnership in 1897, Long joined his son Louis and Lowell Lamoreaux in
a practice that lasted until Long's death on August 21, 1912, in
Minneapolis.

Frederick Kees was born in Baltimore, MD, on April 9, 1852. He worked
for architect E.C. Lind in that city from 1865-1871 and again from 1872 to
1878, with a brief hiatus in Chicago in 1871-1872. Kees moved to Minneapolis in
1878 and entered the office of Leroy Buffington. He became a partner of B.W.
Fisk from 1882 to 1884 and then joined Franklin Long in partnership. After the
firm dissolved in 1897, Kees practiced on his own until 1899 when he formed a
partnership with Serenus Colburn. Colburn died in 1925 and for almost two years
afterward Kees was a partner of H.G. Bowstead. Kees died in Minneapolis on
March 16, 1927.

Louis L. Long, son of Franklin Long, was born in Minneapolis about
1870. He was educated in the Minneapolis public schools and received a degree
by examination at the University of Minnesota in 1894. He entered his father's
firm around 1895 and became a partner in 1898. He practiced until his death on
May 20, 1925, on a train near El Centro, California while returning from a
vacation trip.

Louis A. Lamoreaux was born in Lansing, MN, on December 23, 1861. His
family moved to Minneapolis in 1868, where he graduated from the University of
Minnesota in 1887. He then worked for Cass Gilbert in St. Paul until becoming a
partner of James McLeod in Minneapolis from 1897 to 1899. He joined Long &
Long and became a full partner about 1900. Lamoreaux died of pneumonia in
Minneapolis following surgery on February 1, 1922.

In 1920 Olaf Thorshov, a native of Norway who had migrated to the U.S.
around 1901, became a partner in the firm of Long, Lamoreaux & Long which
was subsequently renamed Long & Thorshov following the deaths of Lowell
Lamoreaux and Louis Long. Little is known of Thorshov's life or education. He
died in Minneapolis in 1928.

Olaf s son, Roy Norman Thorshov, was born in Minneapolis in 1905. He
graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1928 with a bachelor's degree in
architecture and joined his father's partnership just before the latter's
death. Thorshov then became a full partner in Long & Thorshov and in 1942
was joined by Robert Cerny. The firm then was renamed Thorshov & Cerny.
When that partnership dissolved in 1960, Thorshov went into practice with
Willard Thorsen, and Cerny became head of his own firm, Cerny Associates.
Thorshov died in Minneapolis on March 13, 1992.

Robert Cerny was born in LaCrosse, WI, on June 11, 1908. He was
awarded a B.A. in architecture from the University of Minnesota in 1932 and
earned a M.A. in architecture from Harvard University the following year. Cerny
was employed as Associate Architect for the Tennessee Valley Authority in
1933-34 and again in 1935-36. He was a partner in Jones & Cerny in
Minneapolis from 1937 to 1942, when he joined Roy Thorshov in practice
(1942-1960). Cerny also taught at the School of Architecture at the University
of Minnesota from about 1936 to his retirement in 1976. He retired from active
practice about a year later and died in Minneapolis on January 31, 1985.

Scope and Content Note

The collection includes extensive working drawings, microfilm,
photographs, job files, and specifications. It contains representative examples
of the work of all the successive partnerships from 1886 to 1978, documented in
drawings with specifications for work done in the 1950s and 1960s. Buildings
represented in the collection include: Minneapolis City Hall and Court House
(1895-1907); Boyd Transfer Company warehouse (Minneapolis) (1902); A.S. Brooks
residence and garage (Minneapolis) (1907); Buffalo County Court House (Alma,
WI)(1961); Centennial Office Building (St. Paul)(1956-65); Church of the
Redeemer (Minneapolis)(1904); several buildings for Concordia College (St.
Paul)(1917-53); Masonic Temple (Minneapolis)(1888); Eitel Hospital
(Minneapolis)(1911); Dayton's department store (Minneapolis)(1916-29); Radisson
Hotel (Minneapolis)(1908); Minneapolis City Hospital (1911); Hastings (MN)
State Hospital (1960); Federal Office Building (Ft. Snelling, MN)(1965); and
numerous residences, churches, filling stations, and other structures.

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog
of the University of Minnesota Libraries. Researchers desiring materials about
related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these
headings.

The following section contains a detailed list of the materials in the
collection.

Working Drawings

The drawings are arranged alphabetically by commission name. After
that may be listed five pieces of information: type of structure (or proposed
structure), street address, architects, location of structure, medium of
drawing.